Tonight, the United States Senate confirmed Timonty Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury -- the 3rd most important member of the President's cabinet -- an individual who did not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes during the time he worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Yet, he will be responsible for the agency, the Internal Revenue Service, which collects delinquent taxes from other Americans. The Republicans refused to stop his nomination which they could have done if they were united.
Senator Jeff Sessions said before voting no to Geithner's nomination, "The man who wants to be the top tax collector in America hasn't paid his taxes." On the other hand, before the vote, uberpartisan Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Timothy Geithner's failure to pay $42,702 in back taxes a "hiccup."
Thankfully, the leader of the Senate Republicans, Mitch McConnell, voted against Geithner's nomination (he was confirmed 60-34.) Senator McConnell said following the vote: "I have heard from Kentuckians over the last several days on the nomination of Timothy Geithner, and, I want to reassure them that I heard their concerns. While it is the prerogative of the President to choose his cabinet, I can’t, in good conscience, vote to confirm Mr. Geithner given the questions that still remain following his committee hearing.”
Undoubtedly, the same Senate Republicans who voted yes tonight to Geithner's nomination will probably give a pass to the most questionable nomination by Barack Obama, that of Eric Holder to become his Attorney General. In the Clinton Administration, Holder was the key official in Bill Clinton's pardoning 16 Puerto Rican terrorists (responsible for the killing of innocent Americans and some 130 bombings) and a thoroughly corrupt fugitive from justice, Marc Rich, who gave millions to the Clinton Library, etc.
With actions such as these -- and hardly any opposition by the Republicans in Congress to THE largest money bill in American history, the Obama so-called stimulus legislation, costing Americans anywhere from $850,000,000,000 (that's 850 BILLION dollars) to one TRILLION or more and recent passage of the Trojan horse for universal health care coverage (read socialism,) the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill -- the Republican Party (some call it the "Stupid Party") will likely be in minority status for decades to come.
It is also probable that these same congressional Republicans will not offer serious opposition to the legislation which the Democrat Party intends to use to ensure the Republican Party remains in permanent minority such as the Orwellian-named "Employee Free Choice Act" introduced in the last Republican Congress and in last year's Democrat Congress by the liberal Democrats. Passage of this legislation will effectively end secret ballots by employees. Many union goons will pressure employees into voting for unions in their places of employment.
The Democrats will also be trying to pass the equally humorously-named "Fairness Doctrine" which will result in radio stations across the country taking Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Laura Ingraham, etc. off the air because they do not want to give equal time to liberal talk show hosts, the vast majority of whom have not been able to succeed on the airwaves.
As the former editor-in-chief of "The Washington Times," Wesley Pruden said in a column on January 16, 2009, "But Senate Republicans have no fire, in the belly or elsewhere, and the Republican backbone is cast mostly in jelly." If the congressional Republicans do not screw up some courage during the next few months and stop Barack Obama's socialist program, they indeed will be in the minority for decades to come as they were during the 1950's; the 1960's, the 1970's, the 1980's and half of the 1990's.
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